Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made regional headlines after adding several additional Caribbean countries to their list of countries to avoid traveling to amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
As of today, the British Virgin Islands is still on the list of countries that are considered to be at the highest risk of travel, making the BVI one of 27 Caribbean nations that are yet to lose their Level 4 ‘Very High’ risk status.
The other destinations in the Caribbean that are classified by the CDC at a Level 4 are: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bonaire, the Cayman Islands, Curacao, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, Sint Marteen, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Turks and Caicos.
The CDC recommends travelers should ‘avoid travel’ to Level-4 countries, noting that “If you must travel to” the country in question, “make sure you are vaccinated and up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines before travel.”
According to the CDC website, “COVID-19 data reported by the World Health Organization and other official sources” are used to make determinations about Travel Health Notice levels. The CDC also says that if a destination does not provide this data, their level would then be automatically designated as “unknown” and travelers would subsequently be advised to follow Level 4 recommendations by default.